Folding machine



April 7, 1931. J. c. DAWSON FOLDING MACHINE Filed June 18, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet BYv MW //M ATTORNEY;

April 7, 1931. J. c. DAWSON FOLDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 18,

G. M1 h W 1 M l vla/ y fl l 0 @y wr Z n o O O O O .O 1 W ,L

Patentedy Apr. 7, 1931i- UNITEf OFFiCE f JOSEPH CONN DAWsoN, O E LONDON, ENGLAND, Assis-NOE To THE CLEvELAN-D Ecrin- ING MACHINE COMPANY, 0E CLEVELAND, omo, a CoRroEA'rroN. OE OHIO EOLDLNG MACHINE Y Application inea June 1s, 1927, serial No. 199,673, and in Great :Britain July 2, 192e. r

'le signatures or other combination of folds such as two l-pages, can be folded andicutV and each section delivered separately.

In the knownmachines of this type it is the common practice `forproducing, say, two

15 Vl-page bookletsto yprint single sheets' with two signatures'up and after aguillotine v operation to cause each half ofthe divided sheet to be folded 'in a separate'folding unit of the machine asa single siXteen page, the separate 29 sixteen page signatures being then delivered separately through their individual units.'

Now by means of thearrangement according to this invention a full size sheet printedtwo signatures upv can be folded, cut and the 2 Vseparate signatures vdelivered through one and the same unit kthus saving the preceding guillotine operation and dispensing with the necessity of separate units for the folding and delivery of the separate sheets. By this 30 method therefore theproducti'on or capacity of the machine is practically doubled, While at the same time although largersheets are handled the readjustments necessary when treating cut sheets are not required as the original'printers lay edges are maintained.

. In order to attainthis object according to one form of this invention a differential speedV is applied at the point of the'feed where the sheet is subjected to .the action of theusual slitting or cutting tools so that at themoment of cutting two different speeds'are appliedy respectively tothe individual sheets thus severed from the single sheets land these ndivid vual sheets then 'travel onefafterthe othery through the same folding device for individual folding. This differential speed may be attained by, say, the interposition in the gear train of the sheet feeding mechanism of a rerear portion of the single sheet while mainunit. v

tarding gear' so as to produce av dwell onthe' taining thenormal feed speed on the ad-. vanced portion thereof just as the rotary cutter or slltter comes into action; or by dividing the whole gear train into a slower anda Y vfaster driving section the difference ofspeed,

in either case, aiding, as will be understood, in the quick separation of the cut sheets and, therefore, in Va cleaner cut at the requisite point. i i f The invention is herein disclosed as applied to a folding machine of the type shown in United States Patent No. 1,273,609 to Reuben Hitchcock, dated July 23, 1918, where a train of pinions is provided to drive fibre rollers' (a welllrnownmethod of driving a sheet into the baeeof a cross-carrier before entering the f `folding" rolls'),these fibre rollers are vinvtwo sections, the transmission of drivebetween f the sections being obtained by belt and pulley or its equivalent. 'Byinterposing a retarding gear at the point at which in this arra'nge-y ment the rotary'slitter is used, the rearward y section of the libre feed rolls is driven at a reduced speedrelative tothe section in ad- VVvance thereof and consequentlyV at the moment the sheet 1s divided its advanced portion moves on While the succeeding portion is retarded in itsprogress through the machine thereby vproviding sufficient clearance betweenr the two sheet portions enabling them to follow oneanother throughthe same folding device and to be folded, as required, separately 'and yet in one and the same folding Inl the accompanying drawingsz# Fig. lis a side elevation of a'complete folding machine of the buckle type, except for the omission ofthe last feed table and fold Y l section.

Fig'. 2 isa similar view on a larger scale i of that part of the machine to. which, V in this instance, the invention `is applied. y

- Themachine chosen to illustrate the per formance of the inventionis of the paper buckling type in which several 'so-called parallel or legal folds and folds'transverse 'thereto may be made in any required succesL sion. l For its initial operation it comprises aset of feed and folding rolls A, B, C and D and two buckling-plates f and f2 with'their respective adjustable stops g and g2, generally known in the art, paper being fed to rolls A, B from a feed table M through feed rolls N, N and guide plates O, O, Fig. l.

A full sized sheet, printed two signatures up for 32 pages each, may be fed along the table M` through feed rolls N, N and guide plates O, O into the rst parallel fold section, which comprises rolls A, B, C, l) and fold plates vf and This fold section, `when operated at capacity, vimparts two parallel folds to the sheet, thereby making four leaves. The sheet thus folded is then carried downwardly on edge and shifted transversely in an edgewise diection into the second or cross fold section, comprising a fold plate f3 with its adjustable stop gSand fold rolls, only two of the latter, E, G, appearing in the drawing. In this fold section one transverse fold is impartedfto the sheet, which then becomes an eight leaf or eightrfold sheet. This sheet is then fed on edge between a pair of slitter rolls L provided with slitter knives h and feeding wheels e0. The sheet is thereby cut along the line l 2) 'in the usual manner into two parts or signatures 8, e2-which are caused to travel still on edge, but at right angles to the previous 'travel of the sheet, across a down feed frame 7c, andthese parts are then fed downwardly thereon by a series of small fibre or like feed r llers e' and z" to.

apair of horizontal feed rolls H, J, by means of which the travel of the folded parts is 'changed to a-horizontal plane. The driving arrangementen this down feed frame is in this instance shown associated with a particular form of the present invention.

vThe side bar p which carries the bearings for the rollers z', i is rigidly supported by a sleeve g which isvadjustable alonga horizontal guide rod 7 and is slotted and provided with a clamp o `by means of which Yit may be secured in adjusted position. rI he width of the frame may thus be varied sopas tofadapt it to fold sheets of varying dimensions, it being necessary that lthe sheets be grasped by the rollers e', z" before the sheets .are released from the action of Vfeeding wheels w on the shafts carrying the slitting knives L.

In the known arrangement chosen -to eX- plain the performance of this 'invention'all of the small feed rollers z', e" are rotated at a uniform speed commensurate with the speed of travel of the signature through the preceding folding operations, so that the two signature portions s s2 even if cut apart at d (Figd) would still travel on as one without being properly separated one from the other. l l Y According now to the invention thesevrollers are arranged in two groups comprising the rollers and a" respectively. Thelower group, that is the leading group in the direction of travel, comprising the rollers is geared to run at normal speed, taking its drive from the machine where convenient, as for instance from roll H, while the rear or upper group comprising the rollers e" is rotated at a reduced speed, thus feeding the upper signature s2 at a lower speed in relay tion to the feed speed of the signature s and creating a dwell resulting in a local separation of the two signatures. This reduction of speed is preferably effected by the intery osition'between the two Orouas of rollers .vance ,the signature s reaches a pair of further feed rolls H and VJ and is conveyed by them on to a suitable horizontal cross carrier, notshown,in a ywell known way.. rEhe signature e lis then moved upon the horizontal cross carrier mentioned into a third. fold section, not shown, in which there is imparted to the signature a further fold, producing` a signature of 16 leaves or 32 pages. The signature S2 `'follows at the intervalreferred to, afterhaving passed out of the group of rollers e" into the group of rollers i, and it too is also foldedin thethird fold section into a second 16 leaf, 32 page signature. Theirtwo signatures are thus forwarded one behind the other to the final fold section, but at such distances apart as to eliminate any interfolding of the two lsections. Y Y

It will thus be seen that `*by means -of r an `arrangement of the kind described the capacity of `a folding vmachine dealing with full sized sheets'printed two signatures up can be readily doubled without involving any vmaterial increase lof cost, the arrangement used for that purpose being, as clearly shown,

asimple attachment capable of being quickly fitted when required andr detached when not wanted without detriment to the normal arrangementor working'of the ymachine itself.

Itwill be obvious also 'that arrangements `equivalent to the one-specifically described ing divided into a forward and a rear section,

and means for driving the feeding means of the two sections at different speeds.

2. In .a machine of the vclass described, means for dividing .a sheet and moving `the divisions thereofv side by sideonto a cross feed frame, and means for moving the two divisions of the sheet on'said cross feed frame in the same direction, said last-named means comprising two sections the forward one of which is geared to run faster than the rear one.

3. In a machine of the class described,

i means for dividing a sheet and moving the divisions thereof side by side onto a cross feed frame, and mea-ns for moving the two divisions of the sheet on said cross feed frame f in the same direction, said last-named means comprising two sections the forward one of which is geared to run at a speed corresponding to the speed of the adjacent feeding means, and the rear section of which is retarded with respect to the forward section.

4. In a machine of the class described,

means for dividing a sheet and moving the divisions thereof side by side onto a cross feed frame, and means for moving the two divisions of the sheet onv said cross feed frame in the same direction, said last-named means comprising two sections the forward one of which'` is geared to run at a speed commensurate with the speed of the adjacent feeding means, and the rear section lof which is driven from the forward section through reducing gearing.

5. In a machine of the class described, means for dividing a sheet, a cross feed frame, means for moving the divisions of said sheet side by side onto said frame, short rollers mounted upon one side barof said frame for advancing the sheets thereon, said side bar being adjustable transversely of the length of the frame, and means for driving said rollers so as to impart more rapid motion to the forward than to the rearward sheet.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature.

JOSEPH CONN DAWSON. 

